October 21, 2008

“The Right Stuff” – 25 Year Anniversary

The Right Stuff motion picture was released on October 21, 1983. Who among us hasn’t fantasized about busting through the sound barrier or being launched spaceward on the top of a Mercury Redstone rocket?

We remember these scenes from The Right Stuff, but also the intense competition to determine the USA’s first seven astronauts in history. Early NASA scientists didn’t exactly know what abilities humans would need to survive in space, so the astronaut candidates suffered through many physical and psychological tests that were later determined to be unnecessary.